Timeline

This timeline needs to be reviewed and corrected, as it has been automatically generated from multiple web sources. Please help improve it by adding dated informations, images and videos about Oklahoma.

1450

Spiro Mounds, in what is now Spiro, Oklahoma, was a major Mississippian mound complex that flourished between AD 850 and 1450

1803

French colonists claimed the region until 1803, when all the French territory west of the Mississippi River was purchased by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase

1819

Surveying techniques were not as accurate in 1819, and the actual 103rd meridian was approximately to the east

The territory now known as Oklahoma was first a part of the Arkansas Territory from 1819 until 1828

1831

The phrase "Trail of Tears" originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831, although the term is usually used for the Cherokee removal

1844

Oklahoma's first newspaper was established in 1844, called the "Cherokee Advocate", and was written in both Cherokee and English

1866

Choctaw Nation Chief Allen Wright suggested the name in 1866 during treaty negotiations with the federal government on the use of Indian Territory, in which he envisioned an all-Indian state controlled by the United States Superintendent of Indian Affairs

In the period between 1866 and 1899, cattle ranches in Texas strove to meet the demands for food in eastern cities and railroads in Kansas promised to deliver in a timely manner

Slavery in Indian Territory was not abolished until 1866

1881

In 1881, four of five major cattle trails on the western frontier traveled through Indian Territory

1884

David L. Payne - During another trip in July 1884, the army seized his "Oklahoma War Chief" press, burned his buildings, and took Payne and his group through the Cherokee Nation after their arrest

1886

Geronimo - In 1886, General Nelson A. Miles selected Captain Henry Lawton, Oklahoma, in command of B Troop, 4th Cavalry, at Fort Huachuca, and First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood, to lead the expedition that brought Geronimo and his followers back to the reservation system for a final time.

1887

Increased presence of white settlers in Indian Territory prompted the United States Government to establish the Dawes Act in 1887, which divided the lands of individual tribes into allotments for individual families, encouraging farming and private land ownership among Native Americans but expropriating land to the federal government

1889

It is known informally by its nickname, "The Sooner State", in reference to the non-Native settlers who staked their claims on land before the official opening date of lands in the western Oklahoma Territory or before the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which dramatically increased European-American settlement in the eastern Indian Territory

Major land runs, including the Land Run of 1889, were held for settlers where certain territories were opened to settlement starting at a precise time

1890

By 1890, more than 30 Native American nations and tribes had been concentrated on land within Indian Territory or "Indian Country"

In the 1890s, when Oklahoma was formally surveyed using more accurate surveying equipment and techniques, it was discovered the Texas line was not set along the 103rd meridian

"Oklahoma" later became the de facto name for Oklahoma Territory, and it was officially approved in 1890, two years after the area was opened to white settlers

William H. Murray - He acquired his nickname "Alfalfa" around 1902 while working as a political operative for Palmer S. Moseley, gubernatorial candidate for the Oklahoma Territory

1905

Attempts to create an all-Indian state named "Oklahoma" and a later attempt to create an all-Indian state named "Sequoyah" failed but the Sequoyah Statehood Convention of 1905 eventually laid the groundwork for the Oklahoma Statehood Convention, which took place two years later

Geronimo - Geronimo in a 1905 Locomobile Model C, taken at the Miller brothers' 101 Ranch located southwest of Ponca City, Oklahoma, June 11, 1905.

Geronimo - In 1905, Geronimo agreed to tell his story to S. M. Barrett, Superintendent of Education in Lawton, Oklahoma.

1906

Alice Brown Davis - The 1906 Five Civilized Tribes Act finalized US federal government's dismemberment of tribal governments to make way for Oklahoma statehood in 1907

1907

Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged into the State of Oklahoma when it became the 46th state to enter the union on November 16, 1907

On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was established as the 46th state in the Union

William H. Murray - The US Congress admitted Oklahoma to the Union as the 46th state on November 16, 1907

1909

Geronimo - He died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909, as a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma

1910

Quanah Parker - After years of searching, Parker had their remains moved from Texas and reinterred in 1910 in Oklahoma on the Comanche reservation at Fort Sill

Will Rogers - The family tomb is at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in nearby Claremore, Oklahoma, which stands on the site purchased by Rogers in 1911 for his retirement home

As an example, on November 11, 1911, the temperature at Oklahoma City reached in the afternoon , an Arctic cold front of unprecedented intensity slammed across the state, causing the temperature to fall 66 degrees, down to at midnight ; thus, both the record high and record low for November 11 were set on the same date

William H. Murray - He was inaugurated as the ninth Governor of Oklahoma on January 12, 1931

William H. Murray - When the Oklahoma producers did not comply, on August 4, 1931, Murray called out the Guard, declared martial law, and ordered that some 3,000 oil wells be shut down

1934

Severe drought is common in the hottest summers, such as those of 1934, 1954, 1980 and 2011, all of which featured weeks on end of virtual rainlessness and high temperatures well over

Richard Evans Schultes - A Harvard student himself from 1934 to 1941, Schultes studied with Oakes Ames, orchidologist and Director of the Harvard Botanical Museum, who influenced his student research with the ritual use of peyote cactus among the Kiowa of Oklahoma, as well as his discovery of the lost identity of the Mexican hallucinogenic plants teonanácatl and ololiuqui in Oaxaca, Mexico

1935

Alice Brown Davis - Alice Brown Davis served as chief until her death on June 21, 1935 in Wewoka, Oklahoma

1940

Lowell Fulson - At the age of eighteen, he moved to Ada, Oklahoma, and joined Alger "Texas" Alexander for a few months in 1940, but later moved to California, forming a band which soon included a young Ray Charles and tenor saxophone player, Stanley Turrentine

1947

Carl Albert - Albert represented the southeastern portion of Oklahoma as a Democrat for 30 years, starting in 1947

1948

After the 1948 election, the state turned firmly Republican

Les Paul - In January 1948, Paul shattered his right arm and elbow in a near-fatal automobile accident on an icy Route 66 just west of Davenport, Oklahoma

1949

Broadcast television in Oklahoma began in 1949 when KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City and KOTV-TV in Tulsa began broadcasting a few months apart

1950

Over a twenty-year period ending in 1950, the state saw its only historical decline in population, dropping 6,9 percent as impoverished families migrated out of the state after the Dust Bowl

Roger Miller - After growing up in Oklahoma and serving in the United States Army, Miller began his musical career as a songwriter in the late 1950s, penning such hits as "Billy Bayou" and "Home" for Jim Reeves and "Invitation to the Blues" for Ray Price

George McFarland - In the mid 1950s, when the "Our Gang" comedies were sweeping the nation on TV, McFarland hosted an afternoon children's show, "The Spanky Show", on KOTV television in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma

1951

William H. Murray - On January 9, 1951, Murray administered the oath of office to his son as the fourteenth Governor of Oklahoma

1957

Carl Albert - Albert was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1957

Quanah Parker - In 1957, he was moved to Fort Sill Post Cemetery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, along with his mother Cynthia Ann Parker and sister Topsannah

1960

By the 1960s, Oklahoma had created more than 200 lakes, the most in the nation

1961

Alice Brown Davis - In 1961, she was inducted into the recently founded National Hall of Fame for Famous Native Americans in Anadarko, Oklahoma, Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame

1962

The University program was founded in 1962 and was the first fully accredited program of its kind in the United States

J. C. Watts - Watts began his college football career as the seventh-string quarterback and left college twice, but his father convinced him to return and Watts became starting quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners in 1979 and led them to consecutive Orange Bowl victories

1980

TBN, a Christian religious television network, has a studio in Tulsa, and built its first entirely TBN-owned affiliate in Oklahoma City in 1980

Though oil has historically dominated the state's economy, a collapse in the energy industry during the 1980s led to the loss of nearly 90,000 energy-related jobs between 1980 and 2000, severely damaging the local economy

J. C. Watts - Watts argued he had been exonerated from any criminal conduct and that his financial problems were a result of losses for Oklahoma oil and gas businesses during the 1980s

Mark L. Polansky - He earned his pilot wings in January 1980 at Vance AFB, Oklahoma

Jimmy Johnson (American football coach) - In the ensuing 1987 season, however, the Hurricanes went undefeated in the regular season yet again, and won the school's second National Title by defeating Oklahoma for the third season in a row

1988

Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988

Tom Cole - Following his mother Helen, who served as a state representative and senator, Cole served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1988 to 1991, resigning mid-term to accept a job in Washington.

Tom Cole - Along with partners Sharon Hargrave Caldwell and Deby Snodgrass, his firm played a large part in the reconstruction of Oklahoma's political landscape, and backed a number of candidates that took office during the Republican Revolution of 1994.

Woody Guthrie - Guthrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997

1998

Melissa Sue Anderson - In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma

Reba McEntire - She was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1998

2000

Al Gore in 2000, though, was the last Democrat to even win any counties in the state

Following the 2000 census, the Oklahoma delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives was reduced from six to five representatives, each serving one congressional district

In 2000, Oklahoma ranked 45th in physicians per capita and slightly below the national average in nurses per capita, but was slightly over the national average in hospital beds per 100,000 people and above the national average in net growth of health services over a 12-year period

Spanish is the second-most commonly spoken language in the state, with 141,060 speakers counted in 2000

Dan Boren - Boren is married to Andrea Heupel, who is the sister of Josh Heupel, the starting Quarterback who led the Oklahoma Sooners to win the 2000 BCS National Championship and who currently serves as the University of Oklahoma's co-offensive coordinator.

Terry Nichols - Nichols was brought from the prison in Colorado to Oklahoma in January 2000 to face the state trial on 160 capital counts of first-degree murder and one count each of fetal homicide, first-degree arson, and conspiracy

J. C. Watts - By then, Watts had become involved in a contest with other members of the Republican House leadership, including Tom DeLay, over control of the party's message and nearly announced retirement in early February 2000, due to strains on his family, who remained in Oklahoma during his tenure in Washington, but changed his mind after consultations with constituents, Hastert, and his family

2001

For his crime, McVeigh was executed by the federal government on June 11, 2001

2002

The state had the second-highest number of Native Americans in 2002, estimated at 395,219, as well as the second-highest percentage among all states

Dan Boren - Boren served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004, representing the 28th House District.

R. A. Lafferty - There was a writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma , who was, for a little while in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the best short story writer in the world

OG&E was the first electric company in Oklahoma to generate electricity from wind farms in 2003

The Fair was held first on the south oval of the University of Oklahoma campus and in the third year moved to the Duck Pond in Norman until the Fair became too big and moved to Reaves Park in 2003

2004

In 2004, the state ranked 36th in the nation for the relative number of adults with high school diplomas, though at 85,2 percent, it had the highest rate among Southern states

The state is among the best in pre-kindergarten education, and the National Institute for Early Education Research rated it first in the United States with regard to standards, quality, and access to pre-kindergarten education in 2004, calling it a model for early childhood schooling

Roger Miller - In Erick, Oklahoma where he grew up, a thoroughfare was renamed "Roger Miller Boulevard" and a museum dedicated to Miller was built on the road in 2004

Dan Boren - In the 2004 elections to the U.S. House of Representatives, Boren ran as the Democratic candidate for Oklahoma's second congressional district, succeeding Rep. Brad Carson, who was retiring from the House to run for the United States Senate.

Wesley Clark - Clark joined the 2004 race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination as a candidate on September 17, 2003, but withdrew from the primary race on February 11, 2004, after winning the Oklahoma state primary, endorsing and campaigning for the eventual Democratic nominee, John Kerry

One of the worst states for percentage of insured people, nearly 25 percent of Oklahomans between the age of 18 and 64 did not have health insurance in 2005, the fifth-highest rate in the nation

The NBA's New Orleans Hornets became the first major league sports franchise based in Oklahoma when the team was forced to relocate to Oklahoma City's Ford Center, now known as Chesapeake Energy Arena, for two seasons following Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Karl Malden - In 2005, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma

Kristin Chenoweth - In the 2005 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Chenoweth performed the song "Oklahoma" while riding aboard the "Oklahoma Rising" float

Ernest Istook - Istook announced he would run for governor of Oklahoma against Democratic incumbent Brad Henry on October 3, 2005

Garth Brooks - They did begin dating after Brooks's divorce, and married on December 10, 2005, at their home in Oklahoma, marking the second marriage for Brooks and the third for Yearwood

2006

In 2006, Tulsa's Oktoberfest was named one of the top 10 in the world by "USA Today" and one of the top German food festivals in the nation by "Bon Appétit" magazine

In 2006, there were more than 220 newspapers in the state, including 177 with weekly publications and 48 with daily publications

In 2006, there were more than 500 radio stations in Oklahoma broadcasting with various local or nationally owned networks

Woody Guthrie - Also in 2006, Guthrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame

2007

High school dropout rate decreased from 3,1 to 2,5 percent between 2007 and 2008 with Oklahoma ranked among 18 other states with 3 percent or less dropout rate

It currently stretches from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, Texas, though lawmakers began seeking funding in early 2007 to connect the "Heartland Flyer" to Tulsa

Oil accounted for 35 billion dollars in Oklahoma's economy in 2007, and employment in the state's oil industry was outpaced by five other industries in 2007

Oklahoma ranked last among the 50 states in a 2007 study by the Commonwealth Fund on health care performance

Rated one of the top golf courses in the nation, Southern Hills has hosted four PGA Championships, including one in 2007, and three U.S._Opens (U.S._Open_(golf)), the most recent in 2001

Six of the state's universities were placed in the Princeton Review's list of best 122 regional colleges in 2007, and three made the list of top colleges for best value

Kristin Chenoweth - The float was making the first of three annual appearances commemorating the state of Oklahoma's statehood centennial in 2007

Oklahoma's centennial celebration was named the top event in the United States for 2007 by the American Bus Association, and consisted of multiple celebrations saving with the 100th anniversary of statehood on November 16, 2007

2008

In 2008, Interstate 44 in Oklahoma City was Oklahoma's busiest highway, with a daily traffic volume of 123,300 cars

In July 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics, relocated to Oklahoma City and began to play at the Ford Center as the Oklahoma City Thunder for the , becoming the state's first permanent major league franchise

2009

In 2009, the state had 83,700 commercial oil wells churning of crude oil

Dan Boren - In January 2009, along with all other members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation, Boren said he opposed President Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

In 2010, the state had the nation's third-highest number of bridges classified as structurally deficient, with nearly 5,212 bridges in disrepair, including 235 National Highway System Bridges

Oklahoma City, the state's capital and largest city, had the largest metropolitan area in the state in 2010, with 1,252,987 people, and the metropolitan area of Tulsa had 937,478 residents

Oklahoma had 598 incorporated places in 2010, including four cities over 100,000 in population and 43 over 10,000

Oklahoma's largest commercial airport is Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, averaging a yearly passenger count of more than 3,5 million in 2010

The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University average well over 50,000 fans attending their football games, and Oklahoma's football program ranked 12th in attendance among American colleges in 2010, with an average of 84,738 people attending its home games

The English language has been official in the state of Oklahoma since 2010

Quanah Parker - Author S.C. Gwynne supports the Oklahoma claim in his 2010 book, "Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History"

Dana Plato - Almost 11 years to the day of Dana Plato's death, on May 6, 2010, Plato's son Tyler Lambert died at age 25 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Jim Thorpe - In June 2010, Jack Thorpe filed a federal lawsuit against the borough of Jim Thorpe, seeking to have his father's remains returned to his homeland and re-interred near other family members in Oklahoma

2011

The government sector provides the most jobs, with 339,300 in 2011, followed by the transportation and utilities sector, providing 279,500 jobs, and the sectors of education, business, and manufacturing, providing 207,800, 177,400, and 132,700 jobs, respectively

Frank Lucas (Oklahoma) - Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas speaks at a town hall meeting held in the Pioneer Technology Center in Ponca City, Oklahoma on September 26, 2011.

Alan Furst - In 2011, the Tulsa, Oklahoma Library Trust in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma selected Furst to receive its Helmerich Award, a literary prize given annually to honor a distinguished author's body of work

Brad Henry - His second term ended on January 10, 2011 as Oklahoma governors and other statewide elected officeholders are sworn-in on the second Monday every four years

Garth Brooks - He later completed his MBA from Oklahoma State and participated in the commencement ceremony on May 6, 2011

2012

In the last-named sport, the state's most notable team was the Tulsa Talons, which played in the Arena Football League until 2012, when the team was moved to San Antonio

Oklahoma was one of three states, the others being Utah and West Virginia, where Barack Obama failed to carry any of its counties in 2012, and it was the only state where Barack Obama failed to carry any county in 2008

Dan Boren - Dan Boren, the only Democrat in Oklahoma's seven-person congressional delegation, will not seek re-election in 2012, setting up what could be an intense partisan battle for a seat that spans much of eastern Oklahoma.

Jim Thorpe - In April 2013, U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo ruled that Jim Thorpe borough in northeastern Pennsylvania amounts to a museum under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. A lawyer for Bill and Richard Thorpe says the men will pursue the legal process to have their father returned to Sac and Fox land in central Oklahoma

Oklahoma has been described as "the world's prison capital", with 1,079 of every 100,000 residents imprisoned in 2018, the highest incarceration rate of any state, and by comparison, higher than the incarceration rates of any country in the world

Dan Boren - Boren considered a run for Governor of Oklahoma in 2018 before deciding to stay in his position with the Chickasaw Nation

On June 26, 2018, Oklahoma made marijuana legal for medical purposes

2019

A survey in 2019 found that the pay raise obtained by the strike lifted the State's teacher pay ranking to 34th in the nation